60 Years of Empire

By SAUL LANDAU

Look at 2008 symbolically! Some 60 years ago, the United States emerged as the world power. Henry Luce formally announced the arrival of "The American Century" even before the country entered World War II. Luce thought the United States should become the world's missionary, spreading Christian values and democracy. US history had woven together a people with noble purpose, Luce argued, and had "the most exciting flag of all the world and of all history," blowing toward the "triumphal purpose of freedom."

Luce, owner of the publishing empire (Time, Life and Fortune), waxed eloquent, calling on all Americans "each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.

It happened. After World War II, Luce's dream conditions became reality. The United States possessed more than 50% of the world's manufacturing capacity. The powers of Europe and Asia lay in ruins. But politicians and media eschewed the word "empire" to describe the nation that used its dollar as world currency base, set up vast military alliances (NATO, CENTO and SEATO) and, by the early 1950s, had established military bases in scores of other countries and begun to stockpile nuclear weapons.

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